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Tuesday Tutorial-The Picket Fence

Hello, Quilters! Today is Tuesday, and that means we need to get to work…doodling and quilting! At the risk of repeating myself, drawing the motifs on paper is an excellent way to practice. If you can’t draw a motif, you’ll never be able to quilt it smoothly. So pull out your paper and pen, or a dry-erase board as Elizabeth (one of our readers) recommends and practice while you are at your computer. The stitching will flow much easier when you can draw the pattern smoothly.

Today’s pattern is very very simple. The Picket Fence can stand alone and looks adorable on any floral quilt, or child’s quilt. If you like, you can add a “second pass” of spiral flowers. See the Spiral Lollipop Flower tutorialHERE and HERE. The Tulip would also look great. See that tutorial HERE.

This pattern can be stitched in any size. For today’s tutorial, we will stitch a 5 inch fence. Begin by drawing a line along the length of your fabric. This is the Baseline. Draw the second line four inches above the baseline. Draw a third line, one inch above your second line. (It will be five inches from the baseline.)

Then draw lines perpendicular to the baseline and 1-1/2 inch apart. We will stitch on either side of these lines, but not on the lines.

Begin stitching on the baseline. Stitch straight up to the 4 inch line and angle up to the top line. Angle back down, then stitch right next to the drawn line and back to the baseline.

Stitch over a few stitches and begin stitching the second picket.

The above photo shows my Bernina with the offset quilting foot that I prefer. I used Sulky 40 wt thread and #80 Quilting needle.

The picket fence would look lovely as a border. In some quilts, I think it would be lovely all by itself…

Of course, I would never be able to resist all that open space….

I prefer a variety of flowers for more interest. A row of grass would be cute too. While I’m looking at this…a bird sitting on the fence would be darling…

Sometimes, you just have to stop….

I hope you enjoy this easy tutorial. Use it. Make it your own. Share it. Pin it. I would be delighted to see some of YOUR free motion quilting. Send me photos or links…I’d love to share them!

Please remember…all the tutorials and photos are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt.

Your creatively seems endless! Thanks so much for sharing! I am “relatively” a new free motion quilter. Your posts encourage me to keep pushing the boundaries. The last two years have been dedicated to learning more about thread, needles, and free motion feathers. I just start blogging my quilting adventures a month ago.

I am delighted to have found your blog tonight! What wonderful, original FMQ motifs you are sharing — I have bookmarked and intend to go through and try each one. You mentioned dry erasr boads for doodling quilting designs… I have several drawing apps on my iPad that I use for this purpose: Paper 54 is my current favorite. I always have my iPad and stylus with me so I can practice my swirls and feathers in the kids’ carpool line, in the waiting room at the dentist, in restaurants, whenever I have a spare moment. It’s also useful for photographing or sketching a wrought iron window grate, ornamental gate, or whatever else I might see that could inspire a future quilting project. Oh, and by the way, my dogs would go ballistic if a hot air balloon ever passed over our yard! 🙂

I am delighted you found us! Welcome! I hope you have fun doodling and stitching away! I have never heard of Paper 54, but I will look into it right away. Thanks for the fabulous tip!
Let me know if you have any questions or ideas along the way…always looking for new suggestions!